A few gifts

It's been a week of birthday celebrations, and will do a post on that another day.

Today we are visiting some friends that had a baby 3 weeks ago. She was in the hospital for a week because she had a c-section, and after she got back home we haven't been able to find a day that would fit into everyones plans until today.

I have crocheted a little gift and then we bought some clothes as well.

I made the cow back in December, I had to make something gender neutral since they did not want to know what they were getting. Then this week I decided to make a cuddle cloth for the baby as well. That was an really easy project, and since we now know they had a girl I could put some colour on it.

We are looking forward to meeting the little girl this afternoon. Until when I hope to get a bit a rest on the couch while Jonas play with all the lego he got for his birthday.

Baby, birthday and block party...

It's been a crazy week, well busy at least but also fun. On Sunday we visited some friends of our who just had a baby 2 weeks earlier. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of sweet little Kaya, but I did get some pictures of the Giraffe and the blanket I made for her.

On Tuesday it was my birthday, and when I walked into the office on Tuesday morning this was the sight I was met by.

Don't I have the best colleagues? On Tuesday night we went out for dinner, and had a really lovely evening. Wednesday was a national holiday so I was just at work for a few hours in the morning to help opening the store. 

This weekend we have a block party, or more of a town party. There is soccer games, music, bouncy castles for the kids etc. We went there this afternoon/evening and Jonas loved the bouncy castle.  

 Tomorrow evening there is a big party we are attending. I'm working from 7 am till 4 pm both Saturday and Sunday, so I'm not going to party too hard. Though I will miss out on more of the games, but I bet Jonas and Frank will be at the bouncy castle most of the day tomorrow:)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Coffee is my friend...

This week has been busy and a bit exhausting this far, but also a lot of fun... but coffee has saved me this week!

Monday I was meeting up with the girls from my midwife group, and the walk there only took 45 minutes, and the weather was great, so I really enjoy it. On the way back Jonas was awake, which made the trip even better, wouldn't you just love the company of this little guy?

Sorry for the poor quality of the picture... I guess that is why I never take photos with my phone!

I was really nice meeting up with the girls again, and it's fun to follow their kids too, and see how big they are getting.

Tuesday I was hosting a kids clothes party in the evening, so I spent the day baking and cleaning. Though a lot of the people I had invited ended up not showing, there were a lot of lousy excuses, and a few real ones. But honestly when people know so far in advance, and say they will come, how come they change their minds a day or two before? Any ways the ones who showed seemed to enjoy themselves, and we did get to buy new clothes for our kids. It was one of my former colleagues who had started selling clothes in her spare time, so I also got to see her again:)

Yesterday I was meeting up with the girls from my mother group, which again was a 45 minutes walk each way, so I have really got some walking in this week... but I have also been eating cake...

So today I'm really happy that I don't have any plans, so now that Jonas is napping, I'm just relaxing with my good friend... mr. coffee:) and getting a bit of laundry done!

A photographing weekend...

It's been a long, relaxing and photographing weekend... and best of all it isn't even over yet, because today is a national holiday!

We haven't been doing much, except for taking photos of Jonas... I have been surfing online and was really inspired by a Finnish woman called Adele Enersen she has taken a whole series of pictures of her daughter called "Mila's daydreams", I am telling you she is so talented and creative. I found a lot of pictures via google, she hasn't posted too many on her blog, but you should go check her out here.

So here is a few photos, some inspired by here, and one just because...

A little trip to outer space!
In the whiskey barrel
And I got the laundry done:)

And the best news I got this weekend... well it came to me on Thursday, and I couldn't wait for my husband to come home so I could tell him... and after that I couldn't wait to tell you, but I wanted her to tell you first... but if you haven't seen it yet, well I'm going to tell you:) Wendy is expecting a baby in December... yeah, so she is not only getting a visit from Santa this year, but also from the stork.... isn't that exciting? Congrats Wendy!

What's in a name?

Deciding on a name for our baby has been a bit harder than I expected. Sorry to say I'm not one of those girls who knows by age 10 that if I get a girl she will be named *** or if I get a boy he will be named ***.

I had a few demands for the name, I wanted the name to be able to be pronounced in English as well as in Danish. I must say I have been lucky that my name is easily pronounced pretty much all over the world. But while being in the USA as an Au Pair I met a lot of girls from different countries, and many of them had to spell their name over and over before people just got a slight idea of what they were named! Besides from the name being easily pronounced I would like my baby to have a special name, which wasn't too special... do get what I mean? I want a name that isn't super spacey, but I also don't want the boy to be one of 8 in his class named his name (but there is always a risk that with a fairly common name he will be one out of several).

When we first found out I was pregnant neither of us could come up with any suggestions for names... so we decided to put that on hold until we had had the second ultrasound, and knew if it was a boy or a girl. It seemed a bit surreal to both of us coming up with boys names if we were having a girl and vice versa.

So after finding out we were expecting a boy, well it didn't get much easier, but we started coming with suggestions. And every time I suggested something my husband didn't like, he would say "we should name him Frank Jr." All because he knew I would hate it. At one point I thought we would never agree... so I started to abandon my demands. I figured what the f*** who cares if it's easily pronounced in English, my brother lived 5 years in the UK and managed pretty well, even if he's named Torben!

But after a while we had it down to 3 names: Jonathan, Mathias, and Benjamin. After going with these 3 names for a while we decided on Jonathan. Which we told a few people when they asked... and then the day before going on vacation we received an e-mail from my cousin, thanking us for the gift we sent them when they had their son. And he was going to be named... surprise... Jonathan! To say the least I was pretty upset... they stole my name! Okay we could name our boy Jonathan as well, as we don't see them all that often, usually just at Christmas time, but no, Jonathan is now out of the picture. So you would say hey you still have 2 other names left... but no, after deciding on Jonathan, the others just didn't seem right.

But a 9 hour flight to The Dominican Republic will give you time to think of new names:) So when we arrived in Punta Cana we had narrowed it down to 2 names, Jonas and Johan! Leaning towards Jonas, but we weren't completely sure. At the end of our trip though, we were sure he is a Jonas. So until further notice that is what our baby boy will be named. But who knows, someone might pop out another boy and name him that as well... but I hope not, I don't want another 9 hours flight to come up with a new name!

Honestly I thought coming up with a name would be the easy part, I guess I was wrong. But now we are ready for Jonas to arrive. Just 5 short weeks from now:) I must say I really enjoy my maternity leave, I get so much done, the whole house have been cleaned, most laundry been done, I have even been creative... I can't remember when I last painted something that I dare show someone, probably back in pre-school!

A few paintings for Jonas' nursery

I have even started making meal plans... so on Monday night I went shopping, and now I don't have to go grocery shopping for the rest of the week. Which is really nice, I'm used to picking up things for dinner on my way home from work... this way I bet I will save both time and money:) Speaking on saving money... not having a car and being stuck at home during the day will help you save money as well. Today we will know if they are able to fix the car or not. If they are able to fix it we will probably get it today as well. But if there is too much damage we aren't going to get it fixed. It's an old car, and you can get one similar fairly cheap, so if it's too expensive to fix we are going to look for a new one!

Sorry for the long post, hope you all have a great day!

Ready to relax...

Finally the weekend is here, I hate that the pregnancy is making me so tired! But tonight I'm staying on the couch, my husband went out with some old friends from University, so I got the TV all to myself... though nothing really good is on, so now I'm "watching" "Dancing with the stars", not so much watching as it is more background noise...

Tomorrow we are going to the first Christmas party this year, which I'm looking forward to, because by then I will have more energy and will be ready to party all night, well at least I will be able to enjoy all the good food.

The pregnancy has changed a few things in my life, both good and bad! I believe my temper has become a bit more like in my teen years... not a good thing! I have become more crafty... or well I now finish things, not only just start them... a good thing, because I made this and my baby boy is going to be wearing it after he is born...

We are still discussing names, and some people say you don't know what to call him until he is here... I don't know if they are right. But I do know I'm not naming him Gareth.... Wendy! Thanks for the suggestion, but it ain't happening;) I also had a colleague suggest that I would name him Gustav, which is a quite popular name here now, but that ain't happening either because I do believe Gustav the cat will be a bit annoyed having to share his name... and I doubt we need to piss him more off, because he will be annoyed that he will not get all the attention any longer.

On another note I just realised that tomorrow it will be 1 year since I started my blog... wow a lot have happened since, back then I just started writing thinking no one would ever read it, and no I do have a few regular readers, and I'm happy you have been sticking around, and all your comments makes me smile and really feel appreciated, so thank you all:)

I hope you all will have a wonderful Halloween weekend, which I by the way wished would be celebrated more in Denmark... so no dressing up for me this year!

A busy weekend is ahead...

This weekend is going to be a busy one, and I almost can't wait for it to be over, and Tuesday to be here, so I have the day off.

It's going to be an exciting weekend as well, but right now I'm so tired I can't see my way out of it. I have to work the whole weekend, but luckily I can start late tomorrow, so I'm not meeting until noon. On Saturday I will be working all day as well, and when I get home my parents will be here, and we are going out for dinner.

On Sunday our whole department are going to build our Christmas department, which I'm really excited about, I always get in a really good mood when the Christmas decorations comes out.

Though on Sunday a friend of mine is also arranging something called a "Baby Bazaar", which she has done 3 times before, with lots of success. I have never attended one, for obvious reasons (not having a baby), but it's a place where you can book a table and sell all your old baby stuff. So I'm leaving from the Christmas building a few hours, so that my mum and I can go to the bazaar and see if there is anything I need. I'm sure there is a lot of things I would love to have, and I'm looking forward to spending a little time with my mum.

But I'm also looking forward till Tuesday where I will have the day off, and I will be able to sleep in late.

I hope you all will have a wonderful weekend.

Wonderful weekend!

I just had the most wonderful weekend this weekend, and it isn't over yet! We started Friday evening having dinner at my sister in law, it was her birthday yesterday, but since we wouldn't be able to make it on her birthday, she decided to celebrate on Friday. There is nothing better than being invited out for dinner... mostly because then I don't have to cook myself...

She had cooked a delicious dinner, and we really enjoyed ourselves, and we got to meet her new boyfriend, whom seemed really nice, and we are looking forward to getting to know him better.

My sister in law and me on our vacation in Singapore, I must admit my drink was a virgin... though we fooled people when posting it on Facebook, and at that time no one knew I was pregnant.

My parents in law were there too, and I do believe they are a wee bit excited about being grandparents soon... because my mother in law had been looking for a baby duvet, but hadn't found one. But just before leaving for the birthday she had seen there were one on sale this Monday at the department store I'm working at, so she gave me money so I could buy it myself. And I got some money from them and my parents as a subsidy to the stroller (they didn't know I all ready bought one), but I can easily spent those money on something else:)

On Saturday I started cleaning out the closet at the baby room, all that stuff we have saved, and for what? So a lot got thrown out... I can't believe all the winter jackets I actually had... though not many of them will fit this winter, and even if the did I probably wouldn't wear them... so now we are giving my mum them, so she can take them to the Red Cross second hand shop she is working at once a week, and then I can feel like having done a good deed!

Saturday evening we went to a friends 30Th birthday party, which really excited me, because once again I didn't have to cook, but I know he is the best chef... and I wasn't disappointed. He just came home in July from spending 2 years in Singapore, so off course we had to start with a Singapore Sling, and as the amazing host he is, he had made virgin Singapore Slings for me:)

Today I have been cleaning another closets, and now will spent the rest of the day relaxing with a good cup of coffee... or probably more.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend...

All those thing you need to get ready...

Oh boy you need a lot of stuff when expecting a baby, I know I have said it before, but it still seems to surprise me. But I'm trying not to go overboard, but I'm really excited so every once in a while I need to buy something the our boy:)

Though right now the department store I'm working in is celebrating their 40Th anniversary, which is done with a lot of great sales. So on Sunday I got a few items to get ready... and the best thing is that it might be cheap, but I get an 8 % discount on all non-food items I buy at our store:) (and 6 % on food items).

So as said on Sunday I got these items...

A BornFree start set including 4 bottles, a couple of pacifiers, brush for cleaning bottles and a sterilizer for sterilizing the bottles.

A kids table and 2 chairs, which is actually all buckets with lids, so my boy can store some of his toys in there.

A baby towel, one of those there has a hat on it.

Today I went shopping again... and got a "snowsuit", because I do remember while working in the clothing department how many parents asked for snowsuits in January, and we had been sold out for months... so I got one today.

Tomorrow our department store is having a 40% sale on all prams and strollers. So even though I had said I wanted to wait a bit longer before buying in, but it's not getting this cheap again, and then the 8% on top of it... well I'm buying a pram tomorrow!

This is not the exact same model I'm getting, but close, the wheels will be a bit bigger and the tray underneath will be netting instead and the pram itself will be a bit bigger. So when February come we will be driving in style!

So now I have to wait a bit before buying more stuff... or well who knows, I might find another really good offer, which will be to good to pass up:)

It's a ....

This morning we went to the hospital to get the second and last ultrasound. I'm now 20 weeks pregnant, and the ultrasound was going to show if something was wrong, and hopefully the sex of the baby!

The nurse had hardly got the scanner in hand before I told her I wanted to know the sex if she was able to see it. So she started measuring everything, showing us the little heartbeat, both arms, both legs, the kidneys, the stomach, the brain etc. all while I was thinking "can she see what it is? does she all ready know? why isn't she telling me?" I guess she was just teasing, because in the end she told us it was a boy, so in 20 short weeks we will be parents to a healthy baby boy:) Hopefully this is going to make it easier to come up with names, but if you have any suggestions I'm all ears:)

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My mum asked what we had been hoping for, and honestly we were just hoping for a healthy baby, but knowing the sex ahead of time is just so much more practical. So even though it's not a 100% sure, we are now planning for a boy. Everything just seems so more real now.

My brother was hoping for a boy, so he would grow up a be a soccer player, and hopefully play for his favourite local team, but if he weren't any good he could stay with our favorite team:)

So now we can start buying blue things, I'm so excited!

What is it going to be?

Over the last couple of weeks I have really started wondering if the baby is going to be a boy or a girl, not that it matters. I have an ultrasound coming up on Wednesday, and if the baby is in the right position they will be able to tell if its a boy or a girl... I always thought I didn't wanted to know, but now I'm just way too curious, so if they will be able to see - well then I want to know.

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A lot of people have been asking me if I have any idea as to what sex the baby is, but no I don't! Some people don't get, they are like "But you must have a feeling!" but no I don't have a feeling... what should I feel if it's a boy? Should I feel different if it's a girl? Then there is all the old wives tales... if you don't have any morning sickness it's a boy... well then I guess it's a boy, or all the other tales... some will say it's a girl other it's a boy. My sister in law has a feeling it's a boy, my mums friend says it's a girl... what am I suppose to think it is? Well come Wednesday I'll hopefully know for sure!

Then there is the talk about baby names... well I always thought that was going to be easy. But also this is a bit different than what I expected. Let's face it... I haven't given it much thought so far, because what it the use of thinking of girls names if it's a boy and vice versa? But I don't want the baby to have a name that is too common, so there will be 3 or 4 of them in the same class, but I don't want it to be too geeky either so he or she will be teased. I always though I wanted a name that would be easily pronounced in English too, but now when I start to think about names that might be up for debate. Whenever I ask my husband he says "Frank Jr. if it's a boy and Frankie if it's a girl" I guess he has just as hard time as me coming up with a good name, and his suggestions are not even up for discussion! Let's face it Frank Junior... the picture that pops into mind is Phoebe's (friends) younger brother, and as charming as he is, that is not going to happen:)

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Hopefully some of my questions will be answered by Wednesday, and then I can come up with a really great name!

Am I getting spoiled or fooled?

I'm looking at it like I'm being spoiled... when you're pregnant a lot of stores and companies are offering free gifts. I know they are doing this in hope of getting new customers, but I do feel I have a judgement of my own, and I'm not fooled by the free gifts, but then again I'm not stupid so of course I will take the free gifts!

So far I have picked up 2 of my free gifts, which have included a pack of diapers, shampoo for me and the baby, lotion, oil etc. for the baby, nursing pads, several magazines, stain remover and best of all a diaper bucket for used diapers, which will kill the smell of the diapers... Here is a picture of what I have got so far...

I still have one store where I can pick up a free gift. Then there will be a gift I can pick up 4 weeks before giving birth, then I have signed up for getting free baby food, which a company will send me around the time the baby will be 4 months. There are so many places you can sign up for free gifts online, so I actually can't keep track of how many I have signed up for. I'm only keeping track off the ones that I have to pick up myself. The rest will be sent to me at home, so I'm preparing to get excited to open the mail over the next few months.

Is there anything better than free gifts? And is there any reason not to say yes to free gifts from big companies?

Enjoy your weekend!

Survivor weekend, part 2

This weekend we had our "Survivor" party, and it was loads of fun. Unfortunately it was raining part of the day, but we managed anyways. The first test the two teams had was a little math quiz, and they had to enter the result on a laptop, if they entered the right number the words family increase came up. The red team were first and yelled the words, and the cheered because they won, but they didn't realise what they just had yelled. It wasn't until on of the girls from the blue team gave me a hug and said congratulations, they realised what was going on, and then they freaked out. I can't come up with a better way to tell all our friends, they were all there, so how much better could it be!

And now to the pictures, at least some of them.

The blue team had really outdone themselves. They were wearing headbands with their names, and had printed out tattoos for them to wear. Aren't that just cool?

One of the games was a wheelbarrow race... do any of you remember when you were kids, and you played wheelbarrow? Well that was what they did, but they had to bring along their mascot without dropping it:)

Another game was shooting gummibears... but not just throwing them. Nope you lick them, stick them in your nose and shoot... This picture is my brother who had the record with 2 meter and 20 centimeters....

Another game was lighting a fire with a firing steel. Which was a bit harder than we expected, but they did manage to start a fire.

Another game we named water world, the teams had to transport water with a bucket over their head and another bucket taped to the top... it was so much fun seeing them run with a bucket over their head.

Another game was a cucumber baton... they had to transport a cucumber between their legs from one end of the lawn to the other and back, giving it to the next and so on. Some people had some really funny walks.

In the end only 2 people were left, and they had to stand on the plank. In order for it not to take ages they had to move to one leg, but that still took some time.

But in the end we had a winner...

It was a really fun day, it couldn't have been better, or well if the rain had stayed away it would have been perfect.

Today I went to my first ultrasound... it was suppose to be a nuchal translucency scan, but my stupid doctor forgot to send in my paperwork, and I'm now too far along for them to do that. I super upset when I found out yesterday, and didn't know what to do. Then this morning they called from the hospital they had a opening this afternoon. So we went, and got to see our little baby, which was very surreal, it was there, but I don't feel anything yet. We even got a picture but our scanner doesn't work, so you have to wait for that. Luckily they could measure some different things, compare them to the blood test and it seems like everything is like it should be:) But I'm not just 14 weeks pregnant, I'm actually 15 weeks pregnant! My due date is February 16th, but my husband is still rooting for the 12th of February which is his birthday.